In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
What an excellent place of prayer.
Is Palestine the cause of the Palestinians alone?
The answer to this question is almost
one of the greatest fruits of these pauses and reflections on the excellence of this place of prayer.
Due to the weakening of religious allegiance
and the bond of faith and creed to that cause,
and the misleading, directed media machine
designed to reduce that cause and strip it of its true content,
we must first establish a very important truth:
that speaking about the Al-Aqsa Mosque
is speaking about the city of Jerusalem,
and speaking about Palestine—all of Palestine—
which is the heart of the Levant (Bilad al-Sham),
that blessed and sanctified land.
It is impossible to separate all these parts
through artificial labels and geography.
At the beginning of the conflict,
the cause in the hearts of most Muslims
was an Islamic cause.
Then, after the spreading of rumors, lies, and fabrications,
and the weakening of religious motivation,
the culture of nationalism prevailed,
until it became an exclusively Arab cause
for a period of time.
Then, little by little,
the circle narrowed,
and the cause was reduced more and more,
until it became the cause of the frontline states,
then a Palestinian cause
concerning only the Palestinians themselves.
The great truth and the supreme cause
that should be firmly rooted in the minds, hearts,
and even the thinking of Muslims,
and which should not be taken lightly,
or neglected and forgotten under any circumstances—
and every Muslim must review their own self, behavior, approach,
creed, and actions toward it—
is that the cause of this good, sanctified, and blessed land
is the cause of an entire Ummah,
from the time Allah created humanity on the face of the earth
until the Day of Judgment,
because it is closely linked
to revelation and the message of monotheism (Tawhid)
at the beginning, middle, and end of time.
If we say that the cause of Palestine is Arab
and not Islamic,
then we exclude from the circle of responsibility and conflict
more than 1.3 billion non-Arab Muslims.
And if it is reduced to being only the cause of the Palestinians,
as is rumored in some media institutions,
whether intentionally or unintentionally,
it will be limited to a number not exceeding fifteen million,
and thus we slaughter the cause with our own hands.
This is what the enemies strive for,
and they exert strenuous efforts to achieve it.
Hence, the enemies worked to spread rumors, lies, and fabrications regarding that cause
to shake confidence in the hearts.
One such lie is that the Palestinians sold their land to the Jews,
and this is a great slander, unfortunately,
which most nations believed,
and it reflected negatively on people's concern and responsibility toward Al-Aqsa.
For if someone sold their land, would they live in camps of misery and diaspora,
in a wretched state and hardship of life?
Would someone who sold their land demand it back after the sale, even now?
Would someone who sold their land insist on returning to it no matter the cost?
Furthermore, have you ever heard that the Jews produced an official document in any international forum
and said, "This proves we bought the land, so do not claim it"?
That has not happened and never will.
Why should this cause not be the cause of an Ummah?
We have mentioned throughout our past reflections many truths, virtues, and great events on the soil of this land.
It is the first Qibla and the second mosque established,
and the third of the mosques to which journeys are undertaken.
It is one of four mosques that the Dajjal (Antichrist) will not enter.
It is the place of migration for the Prophets, their abode, and the site of their graves,
among many other qualities.
If this land had no other merit
than being the place of the Night Journey (Isra') of our beloved, peace be upon him,
and his Ascension (Mi'raj) to the heavens,
it would suffice for it to be the cause of every Muslim man and woman,
regardless of their colors, races, nationalities, or languages.
Otherwise, why did the wife of 'Imran vow what was in her womb to be dedicated to the service of the Holy House (Jerusalem)?
Because it is the cause of an Ummah.
And why did Musa, peace be upon him, pray to be buried at the edges of the Holy Land
when he was not able to enter it?
Because it is the cause of an Ummah.
Why did 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, come himself to receive the keys to Jerusalem,
even though he ruled from Egypt to the Indus?
It is said that more than a thousand provinces, villages, and cities were conquered during his reign,
yet he did not personally receive the keys to any of them except Jerusalem,
in a sign of the importance and sanctity of that spot,
and that it is the property of the Muslims.
Then 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, made it an endowment (waqf),
so no one has the right to concede even an inch of it.
And if the cause of Palestine were not the cause of an Ummah,
then who drove the commander Nur al-Din Mahmud Zengi, from the Turkish Seljuks,
after the great slaughter and violation of the sanctity of Al-Aqsa occurred,
to the point that people thought Jerusalem would never return to the Muslims?
He rolled up his sleeves, spread monotheism and the Sunnah,
suppressed innovation, brought scholars close, united the small states,
spread justice, and gave the oppressed their rights.
He increased endowments and took upon himself the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Abu Shamah al-Maqdisi mentioned in his book *Al-Rawdatayn fi Akhbar al-Dawlatayn*
that a group of scholars came to Nur al-Din one day
and said, "We have come to narrate to you, with a continuous chain of transmission to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
a hadith that is sequential (musalsal),
which the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said while smiling,
so we smile as we narrate it to you."
Nur al-Din turned to them, with grief crushing his heart, and said,
"How can I smile while the Al-Aqsa Mosque is shackled in the chains of humiliation and disgrace,
under the hooves of the enemies' horses?"
Then he was followed by his student, Salah al-Din,
who was the fruit of Nur al-Din Zengi—may Allah have mercy on them both.
Salah al-Din was of Kurdish origin from Armenia,
and he liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders in the year 583 AH.
Thus, this cause remains the cause of an entire Ummah,
and the struggle over its land is a struggle between truth and falsehood until the Day of Judgment.
He, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, says:
"A group of my Ummah will continue to fight for the truth,
prevailing over those who oppose them,
until the last of them fights the Dajjal."
And what made the Emir Mawdud from the Turkish Seljuks,
the Emir of Mosul after its usurpation,
begin by leading the army,
recapturing some cities in the Levant,
and forming an alliance with the Emir of Damascus, Toghtekin?
He was among the first to wage jihad against the Crusaders
before the emergence of 'Imad al-Din Zengi
and his son Nur al-Din—may Allah have mercy on them.
When he returned with the Emir of Damascus
to rest in the year 507 AH,
and after performing the Friday prayer in the Umayyad Mosque,
one of the Batiniyyah (sectarians) came and stabbed him four times.
He was fasting and did not break his fast,
saying, "I will not meet Allah except while fasting."
The Frankish king sent a message to the Emir of Damascus saying,
"A nation that killed its leader on the day of its festival,
in the house of its object of worship,
deserves for Allah to annihilate it."
Then you know the stance of the Ottoman Sultan,
'Abd al-Hamid II—may Allah have mercy on him—
when they pressured him to hand over part of Palestine to the Jews,
and he lost his empire and the Ottoman State
because of his heroic stance to preserve Palestine.
Then what made the commander 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam—may Allah have mercy on him—
from the Syrian coast,
defend Palestine and fight for its sake,
except that it is the cause of an Ummah?
The enemies of Islam
and the enemies of this cause, from the Jews and those who allied with them, have realized
that when Muslims feel the reality of this cause,
and that it is the cause of an Ummah,
then they will be defeated,
and the Muslims will overcome them.
Golda Meir,
the Prime Minister of the Zionist entity, says:
"We do not fear the Muslims
except when they pray the Fajr prayer in the mosque
as they pray the Friday prayer."
Our enemies know that the struggle over the land of Palestine
is the struggle of an entire Ummah,
not nationalism, nor regionalism,
nor factionalism, nor partisanship.
At a time when we have denied and turned away
from the simplest means of support and honor,
in an age of development, technology, and innovation,
whenever we achieve that,
and plant in our souls the reality of the struggle,
we will disturb the sleep of the occupiers.
For just as the usurpers have strategies,
the liberators also have strategies.
The first of them is the reality of feeling responsibility,
carrying the burden,
and awakening the resolve in all situations and circumstances,
because the soundness of the end comes from the soundness of the beginning.
What an excellent place of prayer,
for the Muslims,
the place of the conquerors,
in it is the best of creation, peace be upon him.
It is an excellent place of prayer.